Ryan White

Ryan Wayne White was an American teenager from Kokomo, Indiana, born on December 6, 1971. After a diagnosis of AIDS, he was barred from attending classes and subsequently became a national poster child for HIV/AIDS in the US. White contracted HIV from a contaminated blood treatment as a hemophiliac. Diagnosed in December 1984, he was given only six months to live. However, despite initial resistance from his school and community due to misconceptions about the transmission of AIDS, he ended up living for five more years, a part of which he spent as an advocate for AIDS research and public education. This endeavor turned him into a popular figure and significant catalyst in shifting public perception of AIDS, until his death on April 8, 1990. On another note, his legal battle against his school's prohibition of his attendance, despite medical advice stating that he posed no risk to other students, highlighted the widespread fear and ignorance of AIDS. White's resistance to this discrimination resulted in heightening public and media attention. The U.S. Congress passed the Ryan White CARE Act, a major AIDS legislation, after his death, becoming the largest provider of services for people living with HIV/AIDS in the US. White was born at St. Joseph Memorial Hospital in Kokomo, Indiana, to Hubert Wayne and Jeanne Elaine (Hale) White. He was diagnosed with severe hemophilia A when he was 3 days old, a blood coagulation disorder that caused him to receive regular infusions of factor VIII, a blood product.